Date Written: August 26, 2007

Flo: Mmmm, I feel so at peace with myself today as opposed to yesterday! I love this idea and it's stormy out, which is perfect for writing time! I love it. -floats on a storm cloud- You know, I really shouldn't be starting another story when I have, like, what? Two or three others to finish in the Tsubasa section alone... Oh well! This won't take long! -continues to float-

WARNINGS! Shonen-ai, but no lemon. Implied, perhaps, but I don't write those. Only read them.

ALSO! This is more loosely based on 1001 Arabian Nights, or whatever you want to call it, than it is the actual story. In other words, it's the concept of someone telling a king stories in order to stay alive, but other than that, it's different. I'll probably still do the main stories told that everyone knows, like Aladdin, but that's it.

FINALLY! This doesn't take place in specific place, but in a fantasy world.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa Chronicles. I don't have the heart to abuse Fay that much.

Hope you enjoy!

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Once upon a time, in a land far away from even your dreams, there lived a young king in a shining castle. Although his childhood was full of happy memories, a day came when his parents passed away, leaving him distraught and cold towards others. Eventually, as one of his duties as king, he was required to take a bride to be his queen once he turned eighteen. He had not given having a wife a single thought and saw it as nothing more than an alliance treaty. The two had never even met before the wedding day, so the only feelings of love were imagined.

The night of their wedding, there was no act of consummation. Before they were given a chance to lay, his new wife pulled knife on him with the intention to kill. The king, however, easily overpowered her and had the woman executed the following morning. That night forever put a mistrust of women in the king's mind and he refused to believe a wife would ever be truly honorable.

Many years passed and the king married numerous women, yet never once felt they were faithful wives and executed them the next day each time. Eventually, there were no more women eligible for him to marry. The court advisor saw this, and decided to take matters into her own hands.

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"A wife isn't necessary," the king said. "They're nothing but trouble and waste of my time. Besides, it's not like I don't have any relatives to pass the kingdom down to."

The advisor calmly set down her tea and responded, "That is true, Kurogane. But it's preferred that a country's king be married in order to show a more human side to him. Though, I do wonder if it's too late for that in your case."

Kurogane regarded his advisor, Yuuko, before scoffing at her statement. "None of those women were trustworthy, and I doubt any woman is."

"Not even me?" Yuuko gave a dramatic sigh before continuing, "Really, Kurogane, we've known each other since we were little. To think that you've never thought of me as more than just another woman! You're such a brute."

"Don't give me that crap! Hell, if you weren't so damn annoying and manipulative I would just marry you out of convenience!"

Yuuko's expression turned serious again at that. "You know how I feel about such things. You need to marry someone out of love, not because it's just 'convenient,' as you so crudely put it."

"If you feel so strongly about it then why did you allow all of those women to marry me?! Let alone that first one!"

"I'm your advisor, not your matchmaker. Or I should say, wasn't."

Kurogane quickly saw where this was going and started to stand up to leave. "I don't remember giving you permission to change your position and I certainly don't approve of it. So whoever you're planning on setting me up with, send them home!"

As he left the room, Yuuko followed after, not missing a step. She knew that he would react like that, and had already planned her next fifty, if necessary, moves. This next marriage was going to work, she could feel it. "But Your Highness, that would be rude! And I'm only doing this because I care about you and the other matchmaker was obviously doing horribly at his job."

"So you took it upon yourself to relieve him of his assigned duty in favor of yourself in order to fulfill one of your fantasies?! If so, then I wish to have no part of it!"

"What do you mean, 'fantasies'? Really, Kurogane, you think much too shallowly of me. And I would recommend you to at least look at my match for you! As I've already said, it would be incredibly rude to just send them home, not to mention make our country look as though it's full of snobs. We already have a horrible reputation thanks to your paranoia."

Kurogane ground his teeth in annoyance at how right the woman was. "I see your point, but how would it come to the attention of other countries?"

"Because your new marriage is to a foreigner. A type of ambassador, if you will. It will be good to form an alliance with other countries in case of a war. We have lost many ties with our other allies, so we need to start working on that. Do you have any complaints about it?"

Yuuko looked at Kurogane with a knowing glint in her eyes. She could tell that he was desperately trying to find something wrong with the arrangement, yet nothing was being said. With a grunt, he sharply turned a corner towards the throne room where his match was waiting. Yuuko took a deep breath and went to catch up with the king.

Halfway there, she thought. She prepared herself as best she could for his predictable outrage that was sure to come as the guards slowly opened the large doors.

A few seconds passed as the two entered, until both of their eyes settled on the throne. There, lounging as if it was perfectly natural, was a lanky blonde haired man, helping himself to some fruit. Yuuko glanced at the king, who seemed to be in shock.

Well, that's kind of a good sign, she told herself. So long as he doesn't start throwing things I think that it will go well.

She was perfectly aware, however, that Kurogane had no clue who the man was. That hurdle was about to come.

"Who are you?" Kurogane asked the man as he approached, his advisor close behind. His staying calm about this wasn't surprising. Despite his needless killing of all of his wives, Kurogane was actually a good, for the most part, level headed, ruler. Some stranger sitting on his thrown was nothing, so long as they quickly learned their place.

The man looked over to Kurogane and smiled after taking a rather large bite from an apple. He set the apple aside and, gathering his elegant silks up behind him, he sauntered down to merely a few inches away from the king, making sure to lock their eyes together, exactly as Yuuko had secretly instructed.

For a while, Kurogane appeared to be entranced by the startling blue eyes, a color almost never seen in their country. He didn't look away until he realized how strange he must be acting and took a few steps back before saying to Yuuko, "Does this guy not speak our language?"

"I do," the man said, taking a step toward the king again.

"He does," Yuuko echoed. "Very well, actually."

"Fine," Kurogane grumbled. "Then answer me when I ask you a question. Who are you and what is your business here?"

"My name is Fay D. Fluorite," he said, giving an odd cross between a bow and a curtsey. "And I am here to meet you, Your Highness."

Kurogane looked confused. Yuuko noticed this and just knew he was thinking that there weren't any meetings planned for the day. "And for what purpose is this sudden meeting for?"

Fay looked confused, as if it were obvious. "Why, to marry you, of course."

Yuuko held her breath while this news sunk into the king's head. Slowly, a deep frown came upon his face and his hands clenched themselves into tight fists. He snapped his head to Yuuko and shouted, "What is the meaning of this?!"

Yuuko kept her head high as she explained, "As I've already informed you, there are no more eligible women for you in this country. Furthermore, you refuse to trust any of them for more than one night! You have absolutely no faith in a wife, so I have found you a husband, instead. If such a thing displeases you so much, then I will take my punishment without complaint."

As she waited for a response, Yuuko looked over to Fay with worry. She had already informed him of the possible consequences and the fate of the many previous wives, but for some reason Fay had taken the position without any hesitation. And he still stood only a small distance away from the king with a smile on his face. It looked to be a type of safety net for him, as if to hide his true feelings. Despite that, it was still an amazing sight to behold.

"Shut up," the king eventually grumbled. "You're just lucky that you're good at your job. What you said makes sense." Yuuko had doubted that he would sentence her to death, but it was still a huge relief to hear those words. "But that doesn't mean that I will marry this man!"

"It's no big deal to disguise him as a woman for the time being and the court has already approved of the union. Therefore, you will be married tonight."

"But-!"

"It's too late, Kurogane. You brought this upon yourself."

All Kurogane could do was mutter obscenities under his breath while Yuuko took Fay away to prepare for the wedding and what was to come that night.

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Kurogane had made up his mind right when he found out he couldn't get out of the situation he found himself in, that Fay D. Fluorite would die come morning, just like all the others. He didn't even feel like he needed an excuse to do so. "He's a man and therefore can't reproduce an heir" should have been enough. Yuuko was absolutely crazy to have pulled a stunt like that.

As for the marriage ceremony, Fay had made a surprisingly convincing women for the crowd of civilians under the balcony. And he had to admit, his exotic looks were eye catching. But as far as Kurogane was concerned, the man had just signed his death sentence.

He regarded him with annoyance as his new "wife" sat on the bed, looking at him as if thinking they were to consummate their marriage. "Is there something wrong?" Fay asked him. When Kurogane didn't answer, he added, "Kuro-puu?"

Kurogane whirled around to glare at the man before shouting, "What did you just call me?!"

"Kuro-puu. Is it wrong for me to give my husband a name to show my affection for him?" Fay smiled coyly at him, making the king grow even more infuriated. He seemed to get great pleasure by seeing him angry.

"You are to call me by my appropriate title and nothing else!"

"It shouldn't matter, really. I could call you anything I want and the outcome of punishment would be the same. Death, wasn't it?"

Kurogane growled at this. How dare he act as though he knew everything! "Don't think that just because you act out of line that it will make me more interested in you. I've had many women make that mistake and they've all received the same fate. The only thing that is gained from it is a deeper hatred from me."

"Ah, but I'm not a woman."

"What difference does that make?!"

"You tell me."

Kurogane growled again and punched a wall to let out a small amount of his growing anger. "How the hell can you be so calm about all of this?! You know that you are to die come morning, and yet you act as though it's nothing! I have had women beg me the entire night to not kill them, but you… you just sit there! What is wrong with you?!"

Fay tilted his head back, seeming to ponder this, before letting his body fall back onto the bed. "There's no point to it. You seem pretty set in your ways. I suppose I'm merely trying to make the best of this situation. You should, too."

Fay patted the bed and Kurogane reluctantly sat down beside him on the edge. He then felt arms snake around his middle and a head of soft hair nuzzle his neck. It had been some time since the king had engaged in sexual activities, and the idea was quite tempting with Fay's hot breath on his neck. However…

Kurogane swatted away the attention and said, "I'm not about to do such a thing with a man."

Fay sat back and a sigh was heard, followed by, "Then what are we going to do?"

"I'm going to sleep. You can do what you want so long as it doesn't involve me."

As Kurogane laid down, he heard Fay let another sigh out. It was tempting to turn around and smack the man. "Well, that's no fun. Two people are always better than one. Besides, you shouldn't go to sleep so early."

"Why's that?" Kurogane was surprised at himself for taking that bait so easily.

"Because it's so early and the more you sleep, the more tired you are in the morning." Kurogane turned around to face him and opened his mouth, only to not be able to think of a single thing to say. Fay was actually right about that. "So what should we do?"

Before Fay had a chance to lean suggestively closer to the king, Kurogane said, "Go read a book or something."

"A book? You have books here?"

"Yeah, go get one and read it. I don't care which, just go and leave me alone."

Kurogane made to lay back down, but Fay's voice came through again. "I would, but I find that reading is so dull. I much prefer telling stories as opposed to silently reading them." There was a slight pause before, "Would my king like to hear one of my stories? I have many."

The king contemplated this for a while. It was true that it was still terribly early and he didn't have anything to do. Normally on his wedding nights, he would end up listening to pleas for lives or put up with numerous advances in hopes of pleasing him. The times where they simply went to sleep did in fact leave him either more tired when he woke up, or even more annoying, waking up early with still nothing to do. And he hadn't heard a good story in quite some time.

"Alright, fine. I'll listen to one of your damn stories."

"Really?!" Fay threw his arms around the king and grinned into his chest until being shoved off, still smiling from ear to ear. "And I know exactly which one to start with, too!"

Kurogane sat up and reclined against some of the many pillows, Fay taking a place by his side. "It better be good."

"Oh, it will be, my king. That I can guarantee to you."

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1.) (side note) The stories told by Fay will all be Sakura/Syaoran ones. I might only do about three, since three is the magic number in stories, and also because they will be the main three stories known from the original book, except with many tweaks. Oh, and there will be a KuroFay bath scene, which is the main reason why I started this! XD It will probably be in the middle.

2.) (side note) Anybody remember the Arabian Nights mini series? I remember seeing part of it when I was… I think 11 or 12 (I'm 18 now), and it's just always stuck with me for some reason. I'd love to rent it to see all of it!

A/N: -flowers surrounding Flo- Ahhh, such a good day. So cloudy! But yes, I am quite happy with this. Semi-serious. I need to work on that in order to properly begin my original works. As most of you know, I write a hell of a lot of humors and it seems to have really helped my humorous writing. So it's practice and I'm trying out a semi-serious piece. The other totally serious one was a dud because I jumped into it too soon. Probably will delete it.

You know what to do!

Please leave a review!

As always, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcomed with belly dancing lessons!